MUSHROOM CULTURE IN PASTURES, ETC.
NOTWITHSTANDING the extreme abundance of the common mushroom in the
meadows and pastures of the British islands, and probably in similar
positions all the world over, it is scarce in many situations, and, it
may be, not a few persons would be willing to make it of more frequent
occurrence in their fields. There is an opinion not uncommon that this
cannot be done; that the mushroom is, to a great extent, a creature of
chance, and that it cannot be cultivated. This is not a philosophical
notion: there can be no doubt that the mushroom has to abide the results
of the struggle for life as well as any other species of plant.
Considering that we have taken the spawn from the fields and cultivated
it with great success in all sorts of positions, none of which it could
ever inhabit naturally, it is absurd to suppose that we cannot induce it
to grow in positions exactly similar to its native habitat. Found in
open, sunny meadows and pastures, and avoiding the shade of trees, it is
grown, as we have seen, in dark and deep mines; yet people suppose it
cannot be grown in those pastures in which it happens not to be found.
It is erroneously inferred that there is something in its constitution
or habit which causes it to occur in certain spots exclusively; but as
well might we say this of any other plant. We know well that hundreds of
native plants are hardy enough to grow almost anywhere, yet how many of
them are but locally distributed and rare! Again, many plants are weeds
in one district and unknown in another, perhaps, neighbouring one.
As the Rev. M. J. Berkeley remarks:--“It is almost useless to advert to
the notion, though a very common one, which would regard these
productions as the creatures of chance or of a happy concurrence of
circumstances favourable to their growth from inorganic elements. It is
true they often occur in unexpected situations, and from their extreme
rapidity of development seem as if they could not have originated from
anything like seed. But, as accurate inquiry has now thrown much light
on the mystery in which the origin of intestinal worms was lately
involved, so the phenomena which attend the growth of fungi are
gradually receiving light, and they are found to follow essentially the
same laws as more perfect vegetables.” It is, in fact, quite fair to
conclude that mushrooms, like most other plants, occupy but a small
space in the vast expanse of soil and site which are naturally adapted
for their growth. I read in a gardening journal that “it is impossible
to command a crop of out-door mushrooms.” I am positive that it can be
done with almost as much certainty as any other crop, provided we take
into consideration certain conditions. Of course, we must remember its
natural wants; the more we do so, the more certain of success we may be.
We know that it grows most abundantly in rich, upland pastures where
water does not lie, associated with the meadow foxtail, meadow and hard
fescue and cock’s-foot grasses, clovers, cowslips, daisies, yarrow, &c.,
and also with the thistles (_Cnicus lanceolatus_ and _C. arvensis_), and
other plants fond of similar soils. We know that it is rarely found
where the marsh plume-thistle (_Cnicus palustris_), tufted hair-grass,
and other marsh grasses and plants abound, and from the presence or
absence of these plants we may easily make up our minds as to the
positions that suit it best. Now, it has long since been proved in
gardens that it is quite possible to cultivate plants to a much higher
degree of perfection than they ever attain in a wild state, under
conditions entirely different, and it is not improbable that we should
be able to grow the common mushroom in soils and positions far removed
from those in which it naturally occurs. But there is no occasion for
anything of the kind. It loves well-drained and dry pastures and
meadows, and is not the country covered with such?
After selecting the position in which we wish to propagate mushrooms,
and no moderately dry pastureland need be without them, the next thing
to consider is the providing of the spawn. Hitherto this has probably
been the great difficulty. When nearly 20_l._ worth of mushroom spawn
was annually used in the mushroom-houses of a large garden, the expense
necessary to spawn a large pasture might well alarm the richest of
mushroom-loving landholders; but there is not the slightest occasion for
purchasing the spawn for this purpose. Every farmer and country
gentleman can make it as easily as, or more easily than, the
spawn-manufacturer, without any expense or inconvenience, the essential
thing being a quantity of rather short stable-manure.
Where this is gathered in large heaps it will be easy to obtain the
requisite materials at once. Where it is not so, a few loads of stable
manure unmixed with long straw may be thrown together in the open air
and prepared for the purpose. There is no occasion to place it in a shed
of any kind, though if there be one at hand so much the better. If
prepared in the open air it should be on a dry place; the materials
should be subjected to exactly the same preparation as when used for
making a mushroom-bed, before described. They should be made into a
potato-pit-shaped bed, and spawned in the usual manner. For this
spawning it is of course necessary to obtain a little spawn, whether
home-made or bought from the seedsman, or found in what the French call
“a virgin condition” in the dunghill. In any case it will not be found
difficult to spawn one or more beds in this way, particularly as there
is nothing to prevent people drying as much home-made spawn at one time
as will suffice for a year or more. The spawn should be allowed to run
through this bed, which should be covered with a slight sprinkling of
earth, and beaten pretty firm. When it has penetrated through the bed,
it should, just before it arrives at a bearing condition, be ready to be
used as spawn. The number of beds to be spawned in this way may be
limited according to the extent of ground on which it is proposed to
grow the mushrooms. This spawn may be inserted in the meadows in early
summer, the most suitable time is in genial weather in May, and the
spawn should be inserted in holes from six to ten feet apart.
The most expeditious and best way of inserting it is that termed
T-planting, striking the spade in the line represented by the
perpendicular of the T, and then in the horizontal one on the top,
pressing the spade back when in the last position, so as to readily
admit of the insertion of one or more pieces of spawn. The kind of spawn
made as I have recommended usually falls into small pieces, more likely
to impregnate the earth quickly than the stiff, brick-like pieces of
nursery spawn. The ground, after the insertion of the spawn, should be
pressed firm with the foot. As to the depth at which the spawn should
be deposited, it would be better not to put it at any given depth, but
so that while one piece of a flake may be at a depth of six inches or
nearly so, others may touch the very surface. This, it need hardly be
pointed out, would allow of the spawn vegetating at the depth and
temperature most congenial to it. It would be most desirable to spawn at
slightly different times, and, if possible, with different samples of
spawn: thus, for example, it would be well to use a mixture of old and
dried spawn with that taken fresh from one of the beds alluded to. If
this were not convenient, some part of the large bed of spawn might be
laid by to dry, and used a week or two afterwards. Probably the most
economical way of doing this on a large scale would be by employing a
number of boys, guided by an experienced workman.
It is scarcely desirable to attempt the culture in kept lawns, as no
matter how suitable these are for it, the appearance of a large crop of
mushrooms would have anything but a tendency to beautify the carpet of
turf, and would probably become offensive from their odour.
The preceding refers to the cultivation of mushrooms in pastures,
meadows, &c. There is not the slightest reason why a similar course of
culture would not succeed in fields amongst green crops. As large crops
of mushrooms have been produced in gardens under broccoli, &c., there is
no reason whatever why they might not be grown in the same manner under
field-turnips, mangold-wurtzel, &c. The spawn which could be so easily
prepared by any farmer, could be readily inserted in the sides of the
drills in which these crops are usually grown, the slight elevation of
which, by preserving the spawn from excessive wet, will favour its
development, and it would take possession of, and impregnate the manure
in the drill. In fact, prodigious quantities might be raised in this and
similar ways, with but little trouble; and should the fields be
afterwards laid down, as is not uncommonly the case, the pasture or
meadow would probably become a regular mushroom-ground.